The Present Disclosure relates, generally, to a sheet connector, and, more particularly, to a sheet connector with high reliability while also having a small size, a simple configuration at a low cost and is easy to manufacture, that can stably maintain contact between terminals and can also securely prevent the occurrence of an instantaneous interruption.
Typically, miniaturization and densification are required for conventional connectors to accommodate the miniaturization and high-performance of electronic devices and components. Accordingly, sheet connectors have been proposed that form a plurality of conductive patterns on an insulating film substrate and connect these conductive patterns to other substrates or the like. Examples of such conventional connectors may be found in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2007-134169 and 2008-270100.
FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a conventional sheet connector. A male side base body 811, as a base body for a male connector, is mounted on the surface of the first circuit board 891. Bumps 851 made of a conductive metal are arranged in a line with a prescribed spacing on the surface of the male side base body 811. Further, a columnar shaped positioning boss 821 is arranged at each end of line of bumps 851. Note that each of the bumps 851 are electrically connected to individual conductive traces 892 of an electric circuit formed on the surface of the first circuit board 891.
Further, a female side base body 911, as a base body for a female connector, is mounted on the surface of the second circuit board 991. Bump receiving holes 922 that pass through from top to bottom of the female side base body 911 are arranged in a line with a prescribed spacing on the female side base body 911. Further, a guide hole 921 is arranged at each end of the line of bump receiving holes 922. Note, a female side electrode pattern 951 made of a conductive metal is formed around the periphery of the bump receiving holes 922 on the second circuit board 991. Each of the female side electrode patterns 951 are electrically connected to individual conductive traces 992 of an electric circuit formed on the surface of the second circuit board 991.
The male connector and the female connector are connected by aligning the surface of the male side base body 811 to face the surface of the female side base body 911 and inserting the bumps 851 and the positioning bosses 821 into the corresponding bump receiving holes 922 and guide holes 921. When doing so, the peripheral edge of each bump 851 contacts the female side electrode pattern 951 of the corresponding bump receiving hole 922 to complete conductivity. In this manner, each of the conductive traces 892 on the first circuit board 891 conduct with the corresponding conductive traces 992 of the second circuit board 991.
However, with the conventional sheet connector, the connected state between the male connector and the female connector is unstable creating a state in which conductivity can be momentarily cut, which is to say, it may generate an instantaneous interruption. This is because, the height dimension of the bumps 851 of the male connector and the thickness dimension of the female side electrode pattern 951 of the female connector gets smaller as the male and female connectors get thinner making the contact area smaller between the bumps 851 and the female side electrode pattern 951 smaller, and therefore, any slight external force, vibration, or the like will have an effect on the state of contact between the bumps 851 and the female side electrode pattern 951.